SINGAPORE -- Indonesia recently brought together 80 leaders of the "decolonized peoples of Asia and Africa" to celebrate the historic 1955 Bandung conference of nonaligned nations.
In 1955 "the spirit of Bandung" moved historic leaders like Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Indian Prime Minister Jawahral Nehru, Egyptian President Abdul Nasser Gamal and Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk to gather at the invitation of Indonesian President Sukarno. Held at a time when decolonization was gathering steam, it was dubbed "the greatest gathering of all time."
The jubilee commemoration was undoubtedly one of the biggest Third World gatherings in recent times, although the Non-Aligned Movement, indirectly engendered by Bandung, now holds summits once every three years.